The Independent National Electoral Commission says the current system and legal framework guiding elections whereby voters cannot vote outside their registration area is one of the factors fuelling voter apathy.
It said apathy was not only a Nigerian phenomenon but a global challenge, noting that if all the people on election duty, including ad hoc and permanent INEC staff, security agents, local observers, etc., could vote anywhere they were on election days, it would boost voter participation significantly.
Local and foreign election observers, political parties, individuals and stakeholders had expressed concern over the voter apathy, especially during the March 18 governorship and state House of Assembly elections. In the presidential election, participation was said to be less than 30 per cent, while many people believed that it dropped further in many states during the governorship election.
In an interview with our correspondent on Saturday, the Chief Press secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, said, “Voter apathy is a worldwide phenomenon and not limited to Nigeria. Since the advent of democracy in 1999, voter turnout has hovered between 25 and 65 per cent. The highest voter turnout we have had, according to records, occurred in 1999 (51 per cent), 2003 (68 per cent) and 2007 (55 per cent). However, in 2011, it went down to 40 per cent, up a bit to 44 per cent in 2015, down to 35 per cent in 2019 and 30 per cent in 2023. Technically, less than half of the registered voters in Nigeria have been voting and electing leaders in various election cycles.
“Theorists have offered various explanations for low voter turnout, but I think one of the big challenges facing voters in Nigeria is the provision of the law that says you can only vote where you registered. What this means is that if, perchance, you are out of your area on election day, you cannot vote. This category includes thousands of security officials, ad hoc staff, local observers and even INEC staff that are deployed to the field for the conduct of elections.”
He said these individuals on election duty could be between two million and 2.5 million, which he said was more than the population of some West African countries.
“Interestingly, people are not paying attention to this,” he noted. “I think if it becomes possible for Nigerians to vote at any polling unit in any area where they find themselves, more people will vote on election day. However, that is as good as it sounds.
“One of the challenges associated with this method is that some people may abuse the process by attempting to vote more than once. So, adequate security and accountability measures are needed to block those who might want to take advantage of some loopholes. Some people have also suggested electronic voting, which in my view also has its challenges.”
Responding to comments that the voter apathy during the governorship election was a result of hitches experienced during the presidential and National Assembly elections, Oyekanmi said, “I do not agree with the notion that the Independent National Electoral Commission’s performance in the conduct of the 2023 general election was low, based on the parameters derived from a small section of the entire country.
“I would rather align with the submission that the commission performed well in some areas but did not perform well in certain areas. We are talking of precisely 176, 606 polling units, spread across 774 local government areas in 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
“There was no single accredited Election Observation Team, whether local or international, that deployed to all the PUs across the 774 LGAs in Nigeria. Empirically, in terms of statistics, I think it is grossly misleading and wrong to judge the 2023 general election based on what some observers saw in some cities such as Lagos or Abuja.”
He said, on the contrary, INEC got impressive reports from many parts of the country, like Osun State, where more than 80 per cent of the polling units were opened by 9am during the presidential election.
